Greenwashing Clean Coal's Dirty Laundry

In today’s social climate, corporations are feeling the pressure by the public to be “green”. No longer are environmental concerns only for the “left-wing pinko’s” or “the tree hugging hippies”, the social consciousness has moved the green debate into mainstream thought and behavior. To stay relevant, a corporation has to be seen as a responsible member of society that cares about its carbon footprint and the future generations of our children. We are going to explore how big business is “greenwashing” their dirty laundry to create a reputation of being socially responsible. From the well-oiled propaganda machine that is bombarding us with messages of eco-friendly-this to “natural ...

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and is generally an appeal to emotion, not intellect. It is generally carried out through media that is capable of reaching a large amount of people and effectively persuading them for or against a cause (ThinkQuest.org). While the word Propaganda was coined not so long ago in the 18th century, from the Latin word propare “to propagate” the word itself didn’t come into common use until as late as 1914 at the beginning of WWI. The truth, however, is that propaganda is neither new nor modern. From early times, people have always tried to mobilize attitudes and opinions. The battle for men’s minds is as old as man itself. Greenwashing falls into the paradigm of Press Agentry, as it’s purpose is to present information that gives the public the idea that an organization is environmentally responsible, even if this is not the case.

With the rapid growth of environmental concern gaining more and more prominence in mainstream media, it is hardly surprising that corporations want ...

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are unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products
5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils – Claims that may be true within the product category, but that risk distracting consumers from greater environmental impacts from the category as a whole (e.g. SUVs)
6. Sin of Fibbing – Environmental claims that are simply false. Fortunately, this is the least frequent sin
7. Sin of Worshipping False Labels – The newest offence on the list of greenwashing sins. Marketers, who exploit consumers’ demand for green certification, by creating fake labels or false suggestions of third party endorsement, usually perpetrate this.
(http://www.terrachoice.com/files/6_sins.pdf)

This ...

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